Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, plans to let retail customers buy, hold and sell bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) directly through its investment app. The rollout is set for early 2027. That would make Leumi the first Israeli bank to offer such a service.
The bank signed an agreement with Galaxy Digital (GLXY) to handle trading and custody for the offering, the two companies said Friday. Customers of both Leumi and its mobile banking unit Pepper will access crypto through a section of the Leumi Trade app. Galaxy will route trading and services through GalaxyOne Institutional, its platform for banks and asset managers. Custody infrastructure comes from GK8, the custody firm Galaxy acquired and rebranded.
The launch puts a regulated lender at the front of a market Israeli institutions have mostly watched from the sidelines for years. Commercial terms, fees and customer eligibility requirements were not disclosed. CoinDesk said it reached out to Bank Leumi for further comment.
Galaxy, founded and led by Mike Novogratz, began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker GLXY in May 2025. GLXY shares stood at $21.38 on Friday morning, up about 2% on the day and down roughly 25% over the past year, according to Yahoo Finance data cited by Cointelegraph. The firm posted an $85 million net loss in the second quarter, largely attributed to declining digital asset prices. Its digital assets business, however, reported $66 million in adjusted gross profit over the same period. That was up 34% from the prior quarter.
Leumi’s move follows earlier signals from the bank. Bitcoin Magazine reported the lender first laid out plans to offer crypto trading back in 2022.
Maya Ravia, Leumi’s head of strategy, described digital assets as an increasingly integral part of the global financial system. Lior Lamesh, Galaxy’s Israel CEO, said early movers among banks would help shape finance’s shift toward open, programmable infrastructure.
The partnership arrives as traditional banks in several markets push deeper into crypto distribution. Whether Israeli regulators have formally signed off on the launch was not stated in the announcement.
Traders, as ever, disagree. The arrangement gives Galaxy a new distribution channel and Leumi a crypto product it can sell without building the rails itself.
